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Last week, French-language Apple site MacBidouille published a rumor saying that Apple's latest iMac refresh would be delayed because of a manufacturing issue. Now, 9to5Mac has followed up with its own sources and is reporting that the all-in-one desktops are still on schedule for November and December launches (for the 21.5-inch and 27-inch models, respectively).

The report goes on to say that 21.5-inch models are now shipping to Apple's distribution hubs, and that there is a "high chance" that the 27-inch models will be available for ordering at around the same time as the smaller desktops, despite not shipping for a few weeks afterward. Even if the new models do make their shipping deadlines, though, Tim Cook warned in the company's most recent earnings call that "supplies would be constrained in a significant way," indicating that Apple may still have issues meeting pent-up demand.

For impatient iMac users who have been waiting for a refresh since April, when Ivy Bridge processors suitable for iMacs first appeared, this is just the latest twist of the knife. They haven't been waiting as long as Mac Pro users have, but it's proof positive that Apple's priorities are shifting as Mac sales become a smaller percentage of the company's profits, and as its desktops become an even smaller percentage of that small percentage.

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Andrew Cunningham
Andrew wrote and edited tech news and reviews at Ars Technica from 2012 to 2017, where he still occasionally freelances; he is currently a lead editor at Wirecutter. He also records a weekly book podcast called Overdue. Twitter@AndrewWrites

I don't think there is anything "new" that can redeem the wait for the new Mac Pro though... (even if you realize that the Sandy-Bridge E processors started shipping this year).

Sandy-Brige E came pretty late without much new technologies, I believe USB 3 still isn't handled by the CPU with that generation.

Apple's biggest problem though is with graphics, they can't go on offering workstation with only a couple of GPU cards options.They have to be able to make Nvidia, AMD & others to switch to EFI, so users could make the most out of the hardware.

"They haven't been waiting as long as Mac Pro users have, but it's proof positive that Apple's priorities are shifting as Mac sales become a smaller percentage of the company's profits, and as its desktops become an even smaller percentage of that small percentage."

Or it's proof that reports that the delay is b/c of the new welding technique Apple is utilizing are true. Nah, the article version gets more hits.

Also Torrijos, it's the mobo makers that need to switch to EFI and many of them already have

Apple's biggest problem though is with graphics, they can't go on offering workstation with only a couple of GPU cards options.

If they offer the right ones, they can. They aren't even offering any pro-level cards, though, which for that class of machine is a shame.They are basically only offering two videocards, one configuration is just SLI. That does nothing if your software won't support it anyway.

I'd expect at least semi-lowend videocard (for applications where 3D performance is less critical), a mid-end for budget-conscious buyers and a high-end config with an nVidia Quaddro or ATi FireGL card, and perhaps the option of adding an OpenCL compute card.

Of course you can just add the card yourself - with the prices of upgrades to the Mac Pro, I expect many are doing that anyway. The upgrade-price for RAM is the typical attrocity, I paid less than 20% of Apple's price for my 32GB upgrade. (Not a Mac Pro workstation, but RAM is RAM for the large part).

Still torn on buying a new iMac. It's an okay upgrade, but with it ditching all of the useful ports (especially the Line In) it was just enough to make me think about the purchase instead of eagerly buying in.

Still torn on buying a new iMac. It's an okay upgrade, but with it ditching all of the useful ports (especially the Line In) it was just enough to make me think about the purchase instead of eagerly buying in.

They have to be able to make Nvidia, AMD & others to switch to EFI, so users could make the most out of the hardware.

I wonder: Isn't Windows 8 pushing EFI? Doesn't that mean that both nVidia and AMD have to switch to EFI sooner then later?

EFI is a replacement for BIOS. The last nForce boards from NVIDIA were introduced in 2009. At least AMD FX (Bulldozer) and Fusion chips support UEFI, not sure about earlier processors. Intel and AMD already support EFI, the only issue is getting the mobo makers to stop putting BIOS on instead of EFI.

Still torn on buying a new iMac. It's an okay upgrade, but with it ditching all of the useful ports (especially the Line In) it was just enough to make me think about the purchase instead of eagerly buying in.

I agree that it's a strange (and dare I say pointless( omission, but you can get USB audio dongles that do line-in. Connect one up, hook it up in Audio Prefs, and from that point on life should be exactly like before.

Well, Apple did drop "Computer" from their name. Now they're all about iWidgets. Macs exist mostly to provide a development platform for iPhones and iPads.

Thank you, VideoGameTech, for that insightful analysis of a computing ecosystem. I particularly enjoyed the part where you made no sense whatsoever, dismissed what is arguably an incredibly powerful platform, and denigrated the growing number of Mac users out there.

I'm surprised that nobody has called Apple for "preannouncing" products (as they did when Microsoft announced the Surface), and for having "vapor" hardware. Other companies get trashed for this, but not Apple.

They are calling Apple on it. People in this very thread are doing that. I'm doing that.

Also, Apple's announcement is nothing like Microsoft's Surface. We have prices and we know how the devices will be used.

Claims of vapourware are a bit premature as well. We know Apple will release these, they're the next iteration in the hardware line they've been selling for... 14 years or so. If that's "vapour" then so is everything else that is between the announcement and the release.

Still, it's crappy that they're unable to meet their timing commitments - availability late in the month is technically a tick, but we all know it's not what they wanted.